Louvre Museum artworks

Louvre Museum artworks definitely makes place in your heart!

Louvre Museum - A must visiting place for all art lovers!

A good artist has a power to put emotions in the art and when a common person can perceive those emotions it is the greatest achievement of the artist...

'Mona Lisa' - whose captivating smile has won hearts of millions of people in the world tells the same story. People from all walks of life visit Louvre museum in Paris to take a look at Mona Lisa. Leonardo Da Vinci deserves the credit!

Apart from Mona Lisa, Louvre museum is a feast for all art lovers. It has huge collection of artworks. Even a person who does not understand 'A' in the Art becomes euphoric after visiting this museum. People may know Paris for Eiffel tower. But Louvre museum heads a crown among must visiting places in Paris.

Louvre museum is a royal palace turned into an art museum. Huge premises, big glass prism, fountains catch the eyes. The palace is so huge that our own Mysore palace can fit in as a room in the building.

Many known and unknown artists speaks to us through famous and not so famous arts. If an arts student decides to study each art in the museum, it will easily take an year. Huge collection of sculptures and paintings! So, a common person should just choose to see selected arts and should read a line or two about those arts before entering the museum. If you know the story behind the art, it speaks to us in different language. To name a few ...Dying Slave, Winged victory of Somathrace, Psyche revived by Cupid's kiss, Venus de milo, Liberty leading the people, the coronation of Napolean...
If you don't know the story, few arts capture your eyes for their simplicity, few for their aliveness, few for their sheer beauty.. And the diamonds, rubies, sapphire studded crowns and jewelry of kings and queens in the royal room is the cherry on top. One may not get another chance to see such real precious stones in life..

Louvre museum artworks have been collected over the years, some by force, some through donation, some by chance. And french people have developed the museum over the years through tremendous efforts. No surprise, millions of people visit this museum throughout the year..

If you understand and love art, you must visit this place...You will no longer be the same person..

If you don't understand art, still you should visit this place...the hugeness of this place is humbling!

Rome - I own the place...

When the habitation was made on one of the seven hills, question came to name the place, the emperor drew a circle around the habitat and called it Rome means ‘I own the place’!

Roman emperors  considered themselves GOD, as they were descendants of  the twins Romulus and Remus. Their mother Rhea Silvia conceived them when their father, the god Mars, visited her in a sacred grove dedicated to him. Rhea Silvia was vestal virgin. (Vestal Virgin is kind of  a Devadasi but with many privileges.) She had abandoned the kids  in forest and the twins were taken care by a she-wolf. These twins founded the city of Rome!

In later years, Roman empire was spread on large parts of Europe, Asia and north Africa. To connect various parts of empire Romans built strong roads. At that time, salt was considered precious commodity and trade of salt was done through the roads built. The word Salary comes from prefix ‘Sal’ means salt. Roman soldiers used to receive half payment for their services as Salt.  So the Salary came into existence. 

Roman Roads

Romans were very particular about the availability of water. They built dams/reservoirs and carried them to places through Aqueduct. After the water passed through the aqueduct, it was collected in tanks and fed through pipes to public fountains, baths, toilets, or industrial sites.

Whenever, a roman emperor won a new territory and spread the empire, he would build an arch on his name. There were 52 arches in ancient Rome. Why did they construct so many arches? Because of the arches, the emperors became role models for little boys in ancient society.

Titus arch

Roman history is full of blood shed, frauds, murders. More popular the emperor, more he is vulnerable to being murdered. Hence, the emperor would live only for few years, sometimes only for few weeks. In early years, they used to build statues of the emperors while the emperor was alive. But in later years till the completion of creation of statue, the emperor used to die either by a disease, natural death or in a war or by being murdered by the enemies nearby. Hence they decided just to carve the head of the emperor and  keep rest part of the body common. Hence, in museums, one can see only the head statues of various emperors. They are not part of broken statues, but thoughtfully designed like that. Just replace the head of the statue, and entire statue is ready.

Statue Without Heads

Palatine hills was the tallest of the seven hills. Being the tallest one, this hill was chosen as the official residence of the emperor. Five storied palace was built on the palatine hill. The walls were decorated with art on Marble pieces. 

Palatine hill wall 

The flooring used to be made from Limestone and there was internal heating system which would keep the flooring warm. 

Palatine hill floor

They also had home theater in the palace where various forms of entertainment shows were carried out. Romans had thousands of slaves captured from various parts of the world. These slaves used to do all kinds of work for them. 

Home Theater

The word ‘Forum’ has the connection with the place Roman forum which was a meeting place in ancient Rome. For centuries the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials etc.

Roman Forum

Ancient roman society followed Paganism as they worshiped thousands of Gods.There are many temples around Rome. Pantheon is the old temple which was later converted into a church. 

Paganism was originally a pejorative and derogatory term for polytheism, implying its inferiority.

Pantheon

Pagan society was converted to Christianity over the years. Ancient roman treasures, artifacts are preserved in Vatican museums in Vatican city. They say Vatican museums is the wealthiest place on earth. If they sell the artifacts from Vatican museums, hunger, poverty all over the world could be vanished..(If!). It is an irony that we can see many beggars in the premises of Vatican museums.

Vatican City

Most well known attraction in Rome today is Colosseum. Titus was the famous roman emperor who completed the construction of Colosseum in AD 80. It is an oval amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome. The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators. It was known for the gladiator battles. A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences by  violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their lives and their legal and social standing by appearing in the arena. 

Most were despised as slaves, schooled under harsh conditions, socially marginalized, and segregated even in death. Thousands of animals, humans were killed in bloody battles on the amphitheater. The wild ferocious animals were captured from Africa and they were kept hungry for days. And then the battle with the wild animals were fought. The flesh of the killed animal was cooked on the ground floor of the Colosseum and distributed among the audience. 

Colosseum

For entry into Colosseum, lifetime membership cards were distributed to the citizens.Each card had the arch number from where the person was supposed to enter the Colosseum and row number and seat number were also written where he was supposed to seat. Members from royal family, virgin vestals had reserved places in the Colosseum. Women had no privileges, rights in ancient Rome. They had to climb to the top rows till the separate seating place for Women.

There is an underground passage in Colosseum used to house wild animals, slaves. Arena is the oval ground where battles were fought. It was made of wooden floor and covered with sand. Sand was used to protect the wooden floor from spilling of the blood. 

arena Colosseum

Colosseum is certainly the place which makes you feel that we certainly live in better world today. Slavery has been prohibited in most part of the world. Men, women live with certain amount of freedom.

However, Colosseum is an architectural wonder as it is still standing tall even after two thousand years. There is a prophecy...

If Colosseum falls down, Rome will fall down.

And if Rome falls down, entire world will fall down..

Italy Travel Advice - Why you must travel to Italy!

Let's look at Italy as an ultimate travel destination and catch up with Italy Travel advice from an  ardent Italy Lover!

Once in a life time, you must travel to Italy!

Italy experience can be captured within three refreshing words:

Resemblance, Remembrance and Romance..

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No doubt Italy is beautiful…!

It is Beautiful in its own way..!

Pleasant coastal towns, big mountains, hilly terrains, historical cities,lively people! And striking resemblance with India.. 

Southern Italy is less developed and messy as compared to North...While in India, North Indian states Jharkhand, Uttar pradesh etc are considered less developed as compared to South Indian States. Southern Italy was (is!) the land of Mafia. Income disparity is quite visible. In cities like Naples, bag snatching, pick-pocketing is common they say. One can also spot kids begging for money on the train. Only difference is that kids are well groomed. Buses come and go on their own timing irrespective of the timetable. Trains/locals may get delayed for 10-15 minutes easily. Exception is the bullet train Trenitalia. However, being expensive one can see less crowd (8-10 people) in a compartment. Train/Bus strikes are very common. A person not new to this may have to suffer from wastage of time.

However, remembering Italian holidays is an absolute pleasure. Tourism industry is very well developed. And people all across the world visit Italy for its beauty and its food. If you go to islands Capri, it is just like Andaman. Pristine blue, green water, full of colours and cosiness. It does have few caves like blue cave, green cave and white cave where you can observe the water,surface and glow light of a particular colour. Within these caves blue gretto (cave) is considered the talk of the town. If you are lucky enough, you can get inside the cave. Description of Capri in few words: Nature at its Best!

Capri - Beautiful -Island

Amalfi coast is the coastal area with towns like Positano, Sorrento, Ravello, Amalfi. It resembles with Konkan stretch of Maharashtra. It is connected with each other by just one narrow road. Traffic jam is quite common on this road and driving requires special skills. Sea on one side and a huge mountain on the other side... This area used to be less developed, but tourism has changed the face of all the towns. (Ironically, Tourism is good and bad at the same time!) Here,pleasant time pass is to look at Lime and orange trees cultivation all along the road. Limecello and orangecello are the wines produced from these cultivations. So these wines got established as big brands from this area. (Thanks to tourism!) Tourists buy these wines as souvenirs. One can also get expensive leather flip flops (quite similar to Kolhapuri Chappals) from here :-)

Sorrento Orange trees

Capital city Rome is full of historical statues,monuments and stories. One can see rash driving, two wheeler encroaching, no traffic signals for pedestrians at many places. Unlike other well known European countries, two wheeler vehicles are quite common here. But roaming in Rome is the feeling beyond measure. Northern cities like Venice and Florence come under typical pattern of European cities , but attractive in their own way.

One may know Italy for land of Pasta, Pizza. But worth trying are coffee, cakes, other sweets. One should not come back without eating mouth watering sweets of various types. Italian coffee is also very different and has got unique taste...Coffee + Italy = Heaven on earth!

Italian-coffee

Italian chefs take very much pride in their own recipe. Our Indian tour guide of Venice, once went to Italian restaurant and ordered pasta. He didn’t like the taste and asked for tomato ketchup. The chef turned up and told him politely that,” if you don’t like the taste, please do not eat it. But don’t spoil the recipe by adding another ingredient!” 100% marks for the pride if not for the recipe!

Italian-pizza

Italian-dessert

If you have seen the film by Julia Roberts, “Eat,Pray,Love”, you will understand the importance of the place called Michele’s pizzeria in Naples, where one can get wood oven Pizza. It has thin crust like Roti and quite delicious in its own way! It is considered age old technique of making Pizza. So, it has to be good! (To maintain quality, they just serve two types of Pizza). Tip: Sitting on the same table, as Julia Robert makes it more special!

Michele's-pizza-eat-pray-love

Anyway, one has to be careful to choose the restaurant to eat pizza, otherwise there is very high chance of getting disappointment!

Italians are pleasant and smiling people. Even if they know little English, they will try to communicate, offer hospitality. And they are somewhat lazy too. Afternoon snooze is very much important for them. They are quite romantic types as well. Especially Italian men are considered womanizers..

At Last,

"What is the fatal charm of Italy? What do we find there that can be found nowhere else? I believe it is a certain permission to be human, which other places, other countries, lost long ago." --Erica Jong

I hope this short Italy Travel Advice would be useful to you!. 

Paragliding in Interlaken

Paragliding - into the sky of limitless possibilities...
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Paragliding in Interlaken was an absolutely mesmerizing experience...

I jumped off from the cliff of the mountain..that's the only thing I know!

What happened afterwords is just pure mesmerizing experience. Experience of flying in the sky with limitless possibilities!

To be true to myself, when we started to fly in the sky, I was choked with emotions.(Remembering the heroes in Jindagi na milei Dobara :-))

Instructor asked me..Are you feeling HAPPY? I said, I am feeling emotional rather than happy!

Paragliding is certainly better than flying on the aeroplane as we have better view around. To put it in the words of paragliding instructor, anything that does not have engine is fine with me! I had Scuba diving experience before. Under the water you are like a fish and in the sky you are like a bird!

The place for paragliding can't be better than Interlaken. Interlaken in Switzerland is absolutely beautiful place. Small city surrounded by two lakes. The crystal clear water in the lakes was looking greenish from the top. I asked my instructor how come the water is so clear and looks green or blue here.. Most of the lakes I visited in India looks muddy. He said it is because of limestone content from the Alps mountains. Mineral rich water from the Glaciers flowing from the mountain provide water to the lakes.

We could also see Jungfrau, the topmost point of Europe covered with snow - pure white color. Other mountains were wearing dark green dress. Small houses in the city below had brown tops while cars were moving around on the grey roads. We witnessed the play of beautiful colors on the Earth!
Afterwords, we also did small roller coaster ride swinging in the sky..! To be frank, I was scared a bit that my specs would fall on the ground as my head was swinging heavily. But our innermost fears rarely come true..

Paragliding in the sky is worth trying as we let go off all fears. There comes a realization of our infinitesimal existence...
Yes..! We are tiny little creatures who are parts of God's creation..Let go off all the differences..We are just one from the top!

Paragliding in Interlaken was the limelight of Switzerland memories. I thank my sister-in-law Nikita for taking all the efforts to make this experience come true..And thanks to our family for looking after the kids when we took an off time! Those 15-20 minutes in the sky were the moments I would never forger in entire life..Ultimately life is all about living in the moments! Time comes and time goes but moments linger....

This is love, to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet - Rumi

At last, Paragliding in Interlaken is safe.. Do try it to experience a better world!

Pleasant, Peaceful, Pretty Mechelen

No doubt - Mechelen is Pleasant, Peaceful and Pretty!

Mechelen- This has been a home for us for over a year now. When you prepare to leave a certain place, a flush of memories gathers around the mind and you realize how much the place means to you. Three of us have lived the best part of our lives here! So we do have a very special place for Mechelen in our hearts.

Mechelen gave us peace and we realized how important it is to have a peaceful mind. There is no rush in everyday life..workplace at eye’s distance, school at walk-able distance, supermarket nearby...Relief! Soothing sound of church bells gives positive vibrations...You wake up to see a river (not very clean) which flows in both directions! (They have some controlled flow mechanism I suppose.) Looking at changing colors of the sky from glass windows becomes a routine. And even if it becomes routine, you don’t get bored with it because the vastness of the sky humbles your very existence.

Mechelen brought us very close to Nature. We witnessed changes in Nature in all seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter. Simply observing patterns of changing nature around was a great joy...My daughter and I had a great time picking up fallen leaves of beautiful trees in fall. It is only here, we witnessed the first snowfall of our life. Spring flowers had put smiles on our faces.

Nature has its own charm!

Changing day time was also quite an experience! In summer, you can experience sunrise at 4 am and sunset at 11 pm. While in winter, it is the other extreme...sunrise at 8 am and sunset at 4 pm.

You live quite a changed lifestyle here. Summer clothing and winter clothing are two different things. But we definitely got bored with wearing jackets and shoes..it’s a burden!

Evening walk around the town was always joyful. The tallest St. Rumbold's Cathedral, old heritage buildings with a maintained style of facades, an open central square will always be remembered.

Every Saturday, a Market like Tulashibag in Pune gets arranged which is called a Grote market. The concept of a shop on wheels is so cool..! They sell various stuff fresh vegetables, fruits, various bakery items, chocolates, flowers, cheese, meat etc, Other day to day items are also sold. Visit to the Grote market is a must on Saturday...it has a kind of cheerful spirit.

Bruul road is the only small shopping street in Mechelen. All shops get closed at 6 pm. And if you enter the shop at 5:55 pm, the shopkeeper will not entertain you!

A special walk to remember is a pleasant trail on old wooden bridge alongside the dyle river. Ducks and their cute ducklings swim through the river..Breeze flowing on the river chills your spirits...This walk is surely a treat to the young souls.

Garden on the bruul road is also very very special...The huge trees have become friends for us. Observing changing patterns with season, picking up fallen leaves, enjoying flower blooms, capturing the greenery and fall colors...everything is so serene over there and you nothing but wonder at the workings of nature.

Well, it is time to say goodbye to Mechelen. And yes...Mechelen’s wonderful nature will surely be missed!.

Disneyland - Wonderland

"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world." - Walt Disney

I cannot agree more. Disneyland - the name which symbolizes creativity, imagination, adventure, the fun keeps you mesmerized. This was my second trip to Disneyland and it was a dream come true. With my first visit to Tokyo Disneyland in 2007, I was fascinated with the world of Disney, its cartoon characters, evening carnival, night show and it was a lifetime experience. I was so much thrilled that  I wrote in my personal note, whenever I will have kids I will take them to Disneyland to experience this awesome place! It is another thing that I forgot about a written dream afterwords. But ultimately, unconsciously, I went to Disneyland Paris with my kiddo! I am glad she enjoyed fully. We clicked very few pictures in Disneyland which tells how much we enjoyed ;-)

Walt Disney - Once upon a time, this man walked on the Earth to entertain children and adults alike. One after the other, he rolled out memorable cartoon characters and great animation films. On the personal front, he faced many challenges, but he carved his name on the history of entertainment... Walt Disney lived a very successful life just like Charlie Chaplin - he gave immense joy to the world!  All over the world, Disney movies/cartoons make people laugh, cry and get them thrilled, inspired and entertained. If you look at animations movies closely, you will get amazed by the power of imagination of the creator of the movies. Every small action gets linked with another action by immense imagination!

Disneyland is the brainchild of the imagination of Walt Disney. Over the years, the name kept growing. Naturally, millions of people visit Disneyland every year. The downside of this - every ride has a big queue and it takes approx 60 minutes to get inside. And the actual ride lasts just 5-10 min. But a few things are worth waiting for! Disneyland has come up with their online app, which gives approx waiting time for each ride. So you can choose the ride which has fewer queues! I will not write about the rides, because they are unique in their own way and writing about it means opening up a big secret!

Disneyland is a worth place to visit along with kids. (But it takes lot of planning and little techniques to avoid queues! If you cover very few rides, it may make you disappointed.) My 6-year-old daughter experienced an adventure ride for the first time. When she could get into an adventure ride by fitting into the height requirement, we were glad she made it! But when the actual ride started, my heart skipped a beat, I was scared with the thought that she will get scared! But she was all giggling and laughing after coming out :-)

Meeting Mickey mouse- spending time with him remains close to everyone’s hearts. An evening parade takes you into childhood and makes you a kid once again. Night illumination of Disney castle sent a message of protecting biodiversity, The illumination just makes everyone illuminated!

At last, World of Disney synonyms world of love, joy, fun, adventure! Deep gratitude towards all Disney Family members…

Few quotes by Walt Disney to keep everyone inspired -

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.

When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.

You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.

Budapest - Hungary Caves

Budapest - Hungary Caves

Budapest- The land of caves, thermal springs/ bath!  More or less, existence of these things differentiates the city of Budapest from other European cities! Budapest is beautiful city to explore, but anyone interested in Geography must visit the caves of Budapest!

Hungary is a land of caves with 4100 natural caves and out of those 170 are in Budapest!

Caves are wonderland beneath the Earth surface. Millions of years ago, the caves were filled with water and ultimately the water receded leaving behind beautiful formations. One can find shells, sea urchins inside the caves to marvel at the nature’s transformations.

There are two caves in Budapest which can be visited.; Szemlő Mountain Cave and Pálvölgy Cave.  It requires approximately two hours and good physical fitness to visit these caves. But efforts are worth taking!

Inside Szemlő Mountain Cave, one can find remarkable pea stones, cauliflower stones, calcite plates. Cluster of these stones look beautiful! There are various chambers (rooms) inside the cave. And the smallest chamber in the cave was located by Cavewoman Maria who entered the chamber through a small hole.Later on an artificial entrance was created to enter the chamber. The chamber is named after her!

Pálvölgy Cave is the longest cave with different kind of formations. Small and big stalagmites can also be located inside the cave. Various rocks look alike different living organisms.It was wonder to imagine a specific shape of an organism inside the rocks. But no living organism like Bats resides inside the caves as they are below earth surface.

Visiting caves is wonderful experience...unfolding geographical wonder and getting immersed into the marvel of nature!

Calcite Plates

Small Stalagmites

Maria and the hole from which she entered the smallest chamber

Spot sea shell

Spot Turtle

Spot Witch

Water holes

Big Stalgmites

Sea Urchin

Displacement of this stone is measured everyday by cavemen for safety

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If you like this post, you may also like to check other places to visit in Europe:

Visiting Prague:

Visiting Prague - The charming beauty!

Sightseeing Barcelona:

Sightseeing Barcelona - The vibrant beauty !

Portugal Holidays:

Portugal Holidays - The Ultimate Treasure

Reading culture in Germany

Reading culture in Germany

Oostende - Disney Sand Art

Oostende – Disney Sand Art

Venice and Florence - The Serene beauty!

Venice and Florence - The serene beauty!

Venice and Florence - The serene beauty!

Venice and Florence in Italy are the two cities which most people admire the most. They truly describe serene beauty. Here is an insider look into Venice and Florence.

Venezia (popularly known as Venice) is beautiful city surrounded by water, and you feel nothing but nostalgic to reach to a destination which you had come across only in English literature.

Bridges, Gandolas, towers, heritage structures add to the charm of Venice -the water city.  But like any other European city, the pattern is same. City center, royal palace, cathedral or basilica, a big tower, churches. When you understand this pattern, each city starts to look same.
What differentiates Venice is the canals,bridges and narrow roads while roaming in interior areas of the city. There was recent flood in Venice because of which most of the city was under water. Though San Marco (city center) was surrounded by  water, the view was amazing.

Even restaurants were flooded with water. Once in a while,Venice experiences such flood which renews the water in its canals.Otherwise there is peculiar smell of water which surrounds the city.

Talking about Gandolas, one automatically remembers the famous song - Do lafzo ki hai dil ki kahani. Well, the gandola ride is super expensive and the cost of romance with Gandola can make a big hole in the pocket :-)

 Venice is also the town of bridges. Realto bridge is one old famous bridge. The view from the bridge is stunning!

But nothing matches the view of the city from Chamomile tower. Absolutely spectacular play of water, land and buildings!

There are three islands near Venice- Lido, Murano and Burano. Lido has got wonderful sea beach. The beach is filled with lots of sea shells. But sea water is kind of slippery and if you look closely the water looks filled with foam. May be due to pollution or may be due to volcanic eruptions in Italian area.

Anyway,there is artificial sea walk stone structure which gives you feel of entering the sea. If you feel hungry roaming on the beach, Lido also has Budhdha Indian Restaurant (run by an Italian person) which serves good Indian food.

Murano island is famous for glass making furnaces. You can enjoy live show of making of glass articles. All over Venice, beautiful glass articles from Murano are sold as souvenirs.
Unique island is the island of Burano. The tower on the island looks tilted by 30 degrees when viewed from sea water. On this island all the houses are painted beautifully. Hence, walk on the Burano island is quite refreshing. Farming community thrived by tourism live on this island.

The more you travel to various destinations, more you wonder how so many people make a living out of tourism!
Few striking features of Venice:
They serve vegetarian pizza only with Eggplant (Baingan) and Tomato. So if you have hopes that you will get good pizza in Italy (the land of origin of pizza), most probably you will be disappointed.

Desserts served in the restaurants are too good. Mouth relishing one must say!

You don't get hot coffee over here unless you specify. The coffee is mostly lukewarm.The ear of the cup is so small that you cannot hold it with your fingers.

Then the picture of unique dust bins ;-)

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Florence - The serene beauty.
Florence is real serene beauty! One feels the calm in the air..

The cathedral is so big that one cannot capture it in one shot. Quite remarkable architectural beauty.. But the long queue will deter you to enter into the cathedral. Old square has various historical monument...

There is one audio visual depicting the interviews of heroes of Florence who saved many lives in the 1967 floods..True heroes who saved lives of others  by keeping their own lives at stake..! In return, they got life long fulfillment!

Florence has one fort which is closed now, but the look from the top (again!) does freshen you up. If  you are lucky enough, you may get full view of a rainbow from the top.

At the end, one must say...

Italy, you are beautiful! No wonder.. big shot Indian couples tying their knots in the romantic country!